ENT healthcare firm acquired at 9.2x profits

HL Healthcare Ltd, a Warwick-based business selling over-the-counter ear, nose and throat (ENT) products in 23 countries worldwide, has been acquired by self-care manufacturer Venture Life in a deal worth up to £13 million.

Venture Life is based in Bracknell and listed on the London Stock Exchange. The company manufactures, develops and distributes products in the self-care market. The firm will pay an initial cash consideration of £8 million for HL Healthcare, with a further £3 million contingent on the company’s revenue performance to the year ending March 31 2023 and a £2 million subordinated loan note, due to mature in 2024.

If the full £13 million is paid, the deal would represent around a 9.2x multiple of HL Healthcare’s net post-tax profits of £1.4 million for the year ending March 31 2022, generated on revenues of £4.5 million.

The deal sees Venture Life acquire three brands owned by HL Healthcare: Earol, which produces a patent-protected olive-oil based spray used in the removal of ear wax; EarolSwim, another patent-protected spray used to protect ear surfaces while swimming; and Sterinase, a saline-based product for nasal flushing.

HL Healthcare’s brands are sold directly to UK retailers and wholesalers and internationally to licensing partners, utilising a distributor network across Central and Eastern Europe, parts of the Middle East and Canada. HL Healthcare is the legal manufacturer of its products, which are produced by a third-party manufacturer.

Venture Life CEO Jerry Randall said: “HL has performed extremely well and demand has risen despite the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing supply chain pressures. VLG is well positioned to leverage its organisation to develop the Brands and their profitability, to continue this channel growth and, in particular, utilise both our UK retail and international distribution relationships.”

“In addition to growth of the existing product portfolio, we have already identified several exciting new product development opportunities; following an anticipated swift integration, we look forward to exploiting the synergies and leveraging the opportunities these acquisitions bring”.

HL Healthcare founder Mark Llewellyn commented: “At HL we have designed, developed and distributed the Earol, EarolSwim and Sterinase brands, which have brought significant clinical benefit to many consumers.”

“It fills me with great pride to know that through VLG’s professionalism, drive and ambition, as well as their well-developed consumer sales, marketing and distribution network, that the benefits of these products will be brought to a much broader and diverse consumer market”.

Law firm Slater Heelis acted as legal advisers on the deal, with the transaction team led by partner Simon Wallwork, associate partner Janet Robinson and solicitor Sophie Fleetwood.

Janet Robinson commented: "The brands owned by HL Healthcare are high value and meeting significant market demand, so this is a fantastic acquisition for Venture Life and we were delighted to be instructed by the seller.”

"We're continuing to see strong deal activity in the clinical and life science sectors, as companies increasingly recognise and look to acquire the high quality assets we have here in the UK to add to their own portfolios. We wish both parties all the best for the future."


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